So long since I've posted here.... and the summer holidays (here in Scotland at least) are nearly over. It's a mixed blessing really - great not to be lashed to the PC every day, yet I'm looking forward to cracking on with some magazine features (for red and Marie Claire) and my next book. I've had no childcare over the 7 weeks, due to one of my sons breaking an arm at the start of the hols - and my plans to get up at 6.30 every morning (haha) to write have come to nothing. I think most writers just snatch fragments of time when they can, so term time's a lot easier - but heck, I'll miss the blighters.

Of course, some people click into work mode at night, and I used to do this, hammering away until 2, 3 in the morning, when I had buckets of stamina - but these days I tend to write gobbledigook and erase it all in the morning.

What has been helpful, though, is scribbling in a notebook while I've been at the park with the kids, when usually I'd have just sat there, drumming my fingers, or staring into space. Kids can also be helpful. My eight year old daughter thought of a book title while we were hols in France which I'm so excited about and itching to get started on.

Mummy Said the F-word started with a title but no plot, no characters, no nothing, so maybe this one will take on a life of its own, with daughter demanding a cut of the proceeds...